United States | Paperwork

[Odinson]

Private​

The State Department securely rushed a VISA request to the United Kingdom for an American man named Arno Miller. If the Foreign Office made any attempt to look into Arno Miller, they would find that there was no record of him ever working as a diplomatic agent for the United States to the United Kingdom - though that information alone didn't necessarily mean anything in particular. If the British approved the VISA request, Mister Miller would fly to New York City and then board a flight on American Airlines which was direct to Heathrow in London. Mister Miller brought with him a few changes of clothes, an autobiography of a retired American admiral, a new cellular phone, his passport, as well as some government credentials and necessary documents needed to travel to the United Kingdom and back to the United States. If there was nothing preventing Mister Miller from travelling to the United Kingdom, he would take his business-class flight to London without incident. Once in London he would travel to the American Embassy where he would stay the night. The following morning, the American Ambassador to the Court of St. James would send a secure message to the Chief of MI6. The message would inform him or her that a representative of the United States, who would be travelling with American government papers, would be arriving at 1:15PM GMT to the MI6 Building. The message was vague and simply stated that this agent had a small amount of information that the United States wished to share with the United Kingdom - it was emphasized that the meeting wouldn't take long and that the matter was not pressing, but that the federal government felt it was necessary in accordance with the Treaty of Washington. The message would specify that he would need to debrief an employee of MI6 with the information that he had. It was noted that the information was sensitive and that the meeting needed to be held privately and in secret with individuals who had the British equivalent to a Top Secret security clearance. All of this would be done quietly, secretly, and securely.

As promised, a vehicle owned by the American Embassy that was being driven by Diplomatic Security Service agents would drop Mister Miller off in front of the MI6 Building a few seconds before 1:15PM. He was dressed in a dark navy suit with a white shirt and black tie, and had a briefcase that was handcuffed to his left wrist. The briefcase had a complicated locking mechanism to ensure the safety of its contents - the only contents within the briefcase were papers that had words and images printed on them. Mister Miller had no weapons of any kind on him. He would approach the entrance to the building, or whatever security checkpoint that he could reasonably approach, and would produce his American passport as well as his diplomatic papers that would indicate that he had been dispatched from the American embassy.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

The message received from the American Embassy certainly raised some eyebrows among the Intelligence Services, and the approach in itself was unorthodox. Despite the trust in their American counterparts, the delivery must be taken seriously, and as the contents were unknown, as a potential threat. Especially for such a delivery to the MI6 building itself. As a precaution, the Met Police was requested to have a higher level of officers in the vicinity which consisted of personnel from SCO19, armed and patrolling in what would be considered normal patrol vehicles, but remained heavily armed.

Intelligence Officers were instructed to set up a 3 mile cordon around the building, covertly dressed down as homeless, taxi drivers and other professions. Relaying any suspicious behaviors due to the nature and surprise message from the Americans. CCTV Cameras remained vigilant outside of the building, tracking the vehicle as it approached and the exit of what was guessed to be their operative, Mr Miller. Security were on hand to check the passport, diplomatic papers. "Do you have any issues with us searching your person, sir?" asked one of the guards, if refused, they wouldn't be able to let him proceed. If accepted, the search would take place on his person only, excluding the suitcase. This would be to check for any arms, unless declared, or forms of weapons. Mobile devices must also be declared and put into a safe box for the duration of his visit to the building.

If the search came back clear, and all electronics and mobile devices were handed over, Mr Miller would be taken to a secure and private room where an Intelligence Officer would be sat in a suit. Waiting to introduce himself.

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

As previously stated, Arno produced his passport and diplomatic papers which only stated that he was temporarily acting as a diplomatic agent of the United States. “Feel free to pat me down… But maybe we could do it somewhere inside? This all feels very… conspicuous,” he said.

The British attempt to surveil him was noble in purpose, but his years working with intelligence agencies gave him a level of tradecraft that allowed him to tell the difference between a vagrant and a man with a £50 haircut who was playing homeless. Nevertheless, he remained pretty stoic and cool throughout the encounter. He didn’t want to concern or alert the British, as they were on the same side after all. This did seem excessive, but then again he figured the CIA would react the same way if someone wanted to make a dead drop at Langley.

Arno did not object to being patted down. He did not have any firearms, knives, or any other kind of weapon on him - nor did he have any kind of listening device other than his cellular phone, which he turned over to the Englishmen after removing the battery - which was just a battery. It was simply a prepaid flip phone which had no information saved on it. The only other metal items on him were a set of car keys with a key fob, his gold wedding ring, his gold ring from the Academy, and his belt buckle.

He proceeded to the room where the British Intelligence Officer was waiting for him. After the door closed behind him he first set the briefcase down on the table between them, and extended his free right hand to greet the Englishman. After he was sure that the room they were in was private, he introduced himself, “I’m Agent Arno Miller with the Office of Naval Intelligence. How are you?”

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

The pat-down was quick but thorough, whilst not having a doubt in their American colleagues, it was a quick decision and precautions were made. Especially for the home of the British Oversea Intelligence Services, MI6. Face to face with an Intelligence Officer, a few mental notes were taken about Arno Miller, his origin before responding. "Pleasure to meet you Agent Miller, I'm Officer Darryl. I'm doing rather well, how are you?" he inquired, during that time his eyes were observing the body language of Arno to see how he felt, and to hopefully receive indicators of anything that could be a problem. "I'll be honest, it took us by surprise that the American Embassy were quick to rush for a meeting with us, I judge what you have to show is of great importance?" he indicated to the handcuffs he had attached to himself, fortunately the pair were confined to a private room.

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

"I'm quite fine," he said. "Would you mind if I take a seat?" he asked. If his British colleague didn't have any objections, Miller took a seat and unbuttoned his suit jacket. He rested his hands on the table while the handcuff lightly jingled as he did so.

"My superiors instructed me to travel here to speak directly with someone from MI6. I... did not think it was necessary, but they don't pay me to make those kinds of decisions. So here I am," he said. He then transitioned to a more formal voice, as if he was saying something he had memorized.

"To respect the spirit of The Treaty of Washington and the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, my government has ordered me to bring a number of physical documents for your government to have... These are the only copies you will get, so do not lose them," he added with a small smile. Agent Miller positioned the briefcase so that both of the men could see it. He unlocked and then unlatched the handcuff around his left rest and set the cuffs aside.

He then set the key-code on either latch to "777". He unlocked both of the latches and they snapped open, however the briefcase didn't open. Miller then used one of the keys from his set of car keys and inserted it into the one keyhole on the briefcase. He turned it halfway and they both heard a distinct Click. Finally, Officer Darryl watched as Agent Miller picked up the plastic key fob, which was attached to the actual metal keys, and hit it once on the table. The lead-lined key fob cracked in half - inside was a small chrome key. Agent Miller removed the the original key that he had used to halfway unlock the briefcase, and then used this new key in the same keyhole. He turned it another 90 degrees, and this time they heard a louder lick and the top of the briefcase moved. Miller opened the briefcase. Inside were a number of scattered white papers. Miller took them out and haphazardly put them on the table. Among them, Officer Daryl would notice a recipe for pea stew, a picture the President Gore, and a number of papers that had lists of random things or people with no header or explanation - it largely seemed to be gibberish.

"You can never be too careful these days," Miller said. After he removed these extra papers, he put pressure on the top cover of the briefcase, from the inside. A false-top fell down, revealing more papers. The color photographs were printed on glossy photopaper while the documents were printed on thick, standard American-sized, white resume paper. At the top of each document was:

OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

CLASSIFIED: TOP SECRET

For Limited External Distribution to MI6​

The photos also had their "Top Secret" classification written on them in red, along with "ONI" afterwards. And then, "FOR UK." All of this would be written on the edge of each photograph, as to not obstruct on the picture, as well as on the back of each photograph.

The dozens of colored pictures clearly showed wreckage of an aircraft. Some of the pictures were in the open ocean while others appeared to be within a warehouse somewhere, with all of the pieces laid out. Other photos were close up on certain parts of the wreckage and showed distinct serial numbers. From the large-scale pictures it appeared that the wreckage was serious and in many small fragments. Officer Daryl would probably already be able to discern that there were no survivors, just from the pictures. The documents had a catalog of the pictures and descriptions for them - each of the pictures were numbered.

"President Gore had ordered a carrier group into the Mediterranean Sea some time ago in order to prevent a conflict between various states in the Middle East. The Navy briefly instituted a no-fly zone. Unfortunately, the fleet arrived too late, just after the President of South Africa's aircraft was shot down. They sent out a number of distress messages before they were shot down by, we believe, the Turkish Air Force. Navy aircraft identified this wreckage, and the crew of the USS Paul F. Foster managed to take pictures and also recover physical samples of some of it. We contacted Boeing and gave them the serial numbers. They confirmed to ONI that these serial numbers matched those that belonged to the Boeing 747 which had being used by the South African President. We feel entirely sure that this was President Botha's aircraft. While we cannot confirm for sure that he was on board, all circumstantial factors point to him being on board. We did not recover any bodies, or any pieces of bodies," he concluded.

"While I think it's a strongly believed rumor that President Botha's aircraft was shot down, the Navy thought that we could provide this extra information to our friends just in case you needed it. We felt it was especially important due to British military facilities in proximity to Turkey and Israel..." Agent Miller put the handcuffs and the false documents - the ones that were decoys - back in the briefcase, but let his English colleague keep the real ones. He removed the key from the briefcase and this time simply snapped it shut. He put the keys and key fob back in his pocket.

"Do you have any questions?" he asked sincerely.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"Be my guest" responded Darryl, indicating to the seat. Of course that wasn't his real name in any way, but by protecting his real information it was a mechanism put in place to protect his family and friends, but him too. This was a natural part of life in Secret Intelligence Service. Keeping his hands visibly rested on the table, the Officers eyes glared curiously as Miller began to snoop around his suitcase, taking a mental note of the first things to be placed on the table. Clearly irrelevant to the point, but there was plenty of suspense until the Agent Miller had revealed the true meaning for his visit. Extending his hand forth, he gracefully accepted some of the photo's as he reviewed it, clicking on almost immediately what it was related too. That was, unless there were some secret incident that had occurred that hadn't hit the news; that seemed unlikely. "Thank you very much for showing us these, it certainly backs up what we heard. Our military assets in Cyprus heard the calls from the aircraft prior to losing communication, it is with regret we had no forces present to respond to investigate so it was largely speculation and word, with little evidence. There is definitely a growing concern surrounding Turkey and their actions as of late, in the last couple of days we've also had a threat from Saudi Arabia..."

After a brief pause, Darryl lifted up his paper and revealed a loose piece, extending it to his American Counterpart.

Saudi Arabia Threat?

"I do not intend to speculate but I believe there is a good relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but we had blocked the access of parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon, the next generation aircraft. It will be entering RAF Service within the next year, but having blocked access to the Saudi government, we received their last message. Demanding parts or, in their words, 'there will be consequences'. We are not overly concerned, but I felt it appropriate to make you aware. We have no intention of responding, and we have some assets now available in Cyprus in the form of fighter aircraft as a precaution. I understand we are both pawns on a board, but I am curious to hear your opinions on that. I'm aware my government is considering, quietly, increasing the amount of forces in Cyprus. I'm not sure to what extent, though."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"Thank you for giving me this information. I'll be sure to pass it on to my higher-ups, and we'll pass back anything we may learn as a result of it," he said very matter-of-factly. "The Navy doesn't pay me to have geopolitical opinions, I just hope the Turks, Saudis, or Israelis don't take any interest in attacking your people in Cyprus or elsewhere - that would be a massive mistake on their part. I'm sure our governments will figure this all out though, we're the good guys," Agent Miller said with a careful but confident smile. While the American government was always open to conduct diplomacy with the United Kingdom and discuss geopolitics, Intelligence Agents and Special Agents in America's intelligence community normally avoided giving too strong of opinions of sensitive diplomatic issues, as they could be violating Logan Act.

"But I really need to get going, I have a book to finish on my flight home... Am I free to go, Officer Darryl?" Miller asked.

Jamie

 

[Odinson]

Private​

If he wasn't stopped, Agent Miller would leave the building, return to the American Embassy, and then fly home to the United States the next day. He would inform his superiors of the everything that he and the British secret agent discussed. He emphasized how the British were concerned about the Saudi threat as well as the situation in Cyprus. This information was passed on to others in ONI which was passed to the State Department and also the Navy. Eventually this information made its way to the Defense Department and the White House.

Jamie